Stripe laid off 14% of their team, informed people about an hour ago.

14 weeks of severance, they pay out 2022 bonus, accelerated RSU vesting, career + immigration support.

A very interesting comparison: Adyen, Stripe’s competitor is massively profitable, has no layoff risks.

Stripe posted the message they sent to employees: stripe.com/en-gb-nl/newsroom/news/ceo-patrick-collisons-email-to-stripe-employees

It’s hard avoid comparisons to Adyen, which processes a similar volume to Stripe, but employs ~half the people than Stripe, in lower cost regions (Europe, mostly).

Which is a better positioned business?

A rare to see reflection on “where did leadership make the mistake?”

An addition: Adyen employs ~2,200 people, so a third of Stripe. Similar gross bookings processed.

Clearly, we’re seeing the “hire first, get to profitability later” strategy backfire in the current economy.

I want to call out that all things considered, the way Stripe is doing layoffs set a new bar.

1. Generous severance and more support than most places give.

2. Transparent on WHY this happened and the mistakes leadership made

3. alumni. stripe. com email addresses created.

Update on Adyen: I was wrong about # of employees. They’re ~3,700. So half the size of Stripe, headcount-wise, not a third.